The ruling is the latest in a process that started in June 2011, when the Texas Legislature passed new political maps but failed to get them "pre-cleared" by the Justice department
By Paul J. Weber
Aug. 29, 2012
Read the complete story
SAN ANTONIO — The future of Texas' voting districts is again in question after a federal court Tuesday found evidence of discrimination in new district maps approved by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature last year.
The U.S. District Court in Washington wrote in a 154-page opinion that the maps don't comply with the federal Voting Rights Act because state prosecutors failed to prove that Texas lawmakers did not draw the new congressional and state Senate districts "without discriminatory purposes."
The ruling applies to the maps originally drawn by the Legislature in 2011, and not interim maps drawn by a San Antonio federal court that are to be used in the upcoming elections this November. The Washington court's Tuesday decision is most likely to impact the maps that will be used in the next election cycle in 2014.
Luis Vera, an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the ruling "better late than never" and a win for his and other minority rights groups that sued the state over the maps.
"The three-judge panel unanimously found intentional discrimination across the state. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it," Vera said.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
New York Times Op Ed | By Nicholas D. Kristof | Tues Aug 28, 2012 | complete story
The Republican National Convention opened by smacking President Obama with the theme “We Built it.”
To pound that message, Republicans turned to a Delaware businesswoman, Sher Valenzuela, who is also a candidate for lieutenant governor. Valenzuela and her husband built an upholstery business that now employs dozens of workers.
Valenzuela presumably was picked to speak so that she could thunder at Obama for disdaining capitalism.
Oops. It turns out that Valenzuela relied not only on her entrepreneurial skills but also on — yes, government help. Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog group, documented $2 million in loans from the Small Business Administration for Valenzuela’s company, plus $15 million in government contracts (mostly noncompetitive ones).
7 comments:
I am not surprised by either of these two stories. The lies, deception and manipulation by the GOP has reached epic proportions, even by Democratic standards. FUBAR!!
What??? I just read lies and deception. Did David Baker and the WVWA come out with another press release?
No, its the WPOA Birthers are coming out of their holes.
Both parties attempt to redraw the district lines for discriminatory purposes. The primary goal is each case is to dilute the voting power of those anticipated to be voting for candidates of the other party. This isn't rocket science - it's only a question of which party is in power as to which group will be discriminated against.
Last Anonymous would normally be correct.
But these days, the extremist right neo-Naz.., oops, sorry, neoRepublican Party will do anything to fix elections.
I for one think that we should allow the neoRepublican Party to get complete control of the US political system.
Then it will be only a matter of time before the militias and the hate groups start to see who their real enemies are, because getting a piece of the remaining bone from Romney, Rove, et al is what they will turn on next.
Having a gun with no real bullets (think "male genitals" corollary) is what they have now, only they sadly don't know it - yet.
Give it time. US voters must need another crazy and incompetent blood sucking Republican administration to run the country for awhile.
Maybe then they see where their interests really lie.
"A step backwards is a leap forward."
David Baker makes Richard Sullivan look like a group home resident.
At least Baker is not foolish enough to pay ATI good money for bad service and gouged sewage and water prices.
Actually WVWA pays ATI on Baker's behalf. Check it out, WVWA pays a water bill to ATI for Baker's home on Mt. Sharp Rd.
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